The Kill Room (Lincoln Rhyme)

This novel features high-level players, secret agencies using UAVs to kill enemies of the USA, a UAV pilot with a conscience, a hard-driven prosecutor, and, of course, Rhyme and friends. And a nice, twisty plot. Which covers the problems with "intelligence" quite well: it can be manipulated, it can be defective -- and yet it can also be correct because it is incomplete. Very nice!

I’m a huge fan of this author, and, in particular, of his Lincoln Rhyme series. Each novel in this series is just a little bit better than the previous one. But in the case of “The Kill Room,” I think it’s leaps and bounds ahead of the previous novel in this series — and that’s a very high bar! There were so many twists and turns in rapid succession that it almost gave me whiplash! The plot line is so complex and the cast of characters so lengthy that you must pay very close attention & maintain that focus throughout hundreds of pages - this isn’t a novel you can put down & pick up two days later, nor would you want to! Be prepared to sacrifice all your “free time” & spending time with friends & family or even eating meals once you begin reading! But, trust me - it’s well worth it!!

I like the Lincoln Rhyme stories. I have read all the stories so far, but this one was a page turner from the very start. How do you investigate a murder when the murder site was in another country and the evidence just keeps disappearing and any witnesses are being erased by the killer. Well that is what Rhyme and his team are facing in this case a lot of dead-ends and a lot of suspects. what just blew me away was how as the evidence mounted in the case the suspects kept changing. The Unsub 516 is a cruel, evil man. This one has me guessing from the very start and like Lincoln Rhyme I was looking at the evidence to find the guilty party. If you like your thrillers to be so fast moving then I have one question for you. When you going to read this book.

I have been a huge fan of Jeffery Deaver since I read the Bone Collector for the first time. Since then I have hunted down every one of his books and I am always preordering the new ones on amazon.com as soon as I can. Needless to say he is my favorite author. When this showed up on amazon.com for preorder I jumped on it and waited anxiously for it to be released. When it arrived I wasn't able to start the day it landed on my doorstep and I was in a reading slump. So starting off I had some mixed emotions with this book.

This book is a bit different from the Lincoln Rhyme books I have read before, because there is a political aspect. I am not one for political Thrillers, there is nothing wrong with them, I'm just saying they aren't for me. So when I began reading this and there wasn't a crime scene for Rhyme and Sacks to investigate. Instead we get a political killing in a different country, a prosecutor who just wants Rhyme and Sachs to find reasons why the victim shouldn't be painted as a terrorist so she can go after the Government office that ordered the hit was not what I was expecting. However, I always give Deaver the benefit of a doubt and kept going. I was so wrong in my initial impressions.

This story is amazing, and once it got going there was plenty of mystery and intrigue, as well as Deaver's classic twists. When I read every one of his books I try to think like him and figure out the next step, or how this is going to end. I thought this time I had him, I knew what pieces went together and we knew who the killer was by name right off the bat. A little over half way through the book Deaver ripped the carpeting out from under me and everything I knew was wrong. I have always wondered how long Deaver can keep these types of twists going in his books before he becomes predictable. Apparently he still has plenty of skills to misdirect and stump even the most observant of readers.

This book may have had a few slower moments and down spots when compared to his other works, but the characters and plot make up for that in a big way. One of the main reasons I read the Rhyme series is for the characters. Each book is its own individual story so they can really be read in any order, but when you read them in the order they were written you get to see the relationship between Rhyme and Sachs grow. I think that the little bit of relationship is just as good as the action itself. They care for each other and are written so well they seem like people you have known for years. You become vested in them as the story progresses. There were a few moments that had me holding my breath as I read. I couldn't believe the situations Rhyme found himself in this time around. I didn't even realize that I had stopped breathing until I got to the end of the action and could feel my lungs burning from lack of oxygen. There is so much I could say about why I loved this book, but I must be honest. If you really want to know why I loved this book so much, go read it. I'm so afraid I will give something away; even if I did Deaver would still find a way to shock each reader in different ways. I loved this book and can't wait to see what he comes up with next. Aside from a bit of a slow start this was a thrilling read.

The Kill Room by Jeffrey Deaver is a great mystery/thriller with surprisingly intense suspense and action scenes. I found the characters extremely interesting, particularly the villains who were well-drawn, complex and chilling.

This is my first time reading these characters, and while I'm sure there is much background and history I am lacking, I had no trouble relating to them and picking up on the relationships. The story itself was nicely complex with several twists and turns that keep you paying close attention along with the investigators to follow the clues back to the perpetrators. While the crime is revealed in the opening pages, the full motives behind it, as well as how it was accomplished and the role of each of the villains is gradually revealed. Several false starts and dead ends keep you guessing along with the lead characters, Lincoln Rhymes and Amelia Sachs.

The book alternates viewpoints between the good guys and the bad guys. This plot device can be overdone, but Deaver uses it well here creating both misdirection and suspense without overdoing it. One of the villains, Jacob Swann, is particularly chilling in a Hannibal Lecter sort of way. He is intelligent and equal parts fascinating and horrifying.

I was truly on the edge of my seat due to the intensity of some of the passages. Very minor quibbles with the overuse of certain terms. It is impressive that this many books into a series, the characters feel so fresh and the storytelling is so crisp. This is a quick read and a book certain to please long-time fans as well as win new ones. Highly recommended.

Book 10 in the Lincoln Rhyme series, The Kill Room begins when Robert Moreno, and activist who is anti-American, is murdered while meeting with a reporter in the Bahamas. Someone in the US government has ordered the hit, and the reporter, who is an American citizen, is also killed and considered collateral damage. Lincoln Rhyme is called in to investigate, as well as Nance Laurel, an assistant district attorney. Lincoln has his usual team, including Amelia Sachs, and Amelia doesn't like or trust Nance. During the course of the investigation, Lincoln travels to the Bahamas, which is certainly not his style, but he feels it's necessary in this case. Amelia stays stateside. The murder is suspicious, and may have been a mistake, so the assassin, Jacob Swann, must eliminate any evidence and also anyone connected to the case. Lincoln, Amelia, Nance, and other members of Lincoln's team are targeted.

As is Deaver's style, the novel is suspenseful from the start, and doesn't let up until the surprising ending. Deaver's story is well-organized, easy-to-follow, and there are enough twists and turns to keep readers on the edge of their seats. Not only is Deaver a master storyteller, he has the remarkable ability to make his characters come alive without long, drawn-out descriptions. Most fans have seen Lincoln, Amelia, et. al. change and evolve through the novels; and in The Kill Room, Nance's character, with her frailties, insecurities, and strengths becomes real. One of the most interesting characters in this novel is Jacob Swann. Not only is he an extremely skillful assassin, he is also an accomplished chef, especially proficient with knives, and cooks to wind down after his kills. So besides being on the edge, readers will be subject to mouthwatering descriptions of what Swann is eating; luckily the recipes are published on Deaver's website (www.jefferydeaver.com).

One thing that was a little distracting in this novel is the overuse of acronyms; it seems there were too many to keep track of and at times they became a little confusing. However, as is Deaver's style, this novel is well-researched and well-written. Deaver publishes new novels often, but they are not sloppy and they do not have issues left hanging. Deaver is one of the most skilled suspense/thriller writers today, and this novel is highly recommended.

This book was purchased with personal funds and no promotion of the book was solicited by the author or publisher.

This is the first book that I've read in the Lincoln Rhyme series - I'd seen the movie version of The Bone Collector, but never read the book - and I came away very impressed.

The issues surrounding the plot in The Kill Room are straight from today's headlines: the government spying on and assassinating American citizens and using UAVs to carry out clandestine operations. In the book, a NY prosecutor wants to charge government officials with murder after they assassinate an American citizen. The author does a good job of posing questions worthy of debate without taking sides on the issues - it's a novel after all - and these issues make for a very compelling plot.

As I read the book, there were a couple of instances where I felt the author was trying too hard and went a bit over-the-top on some things when if he'd just left it alone the plot by itself was enough to carry me through the book - however, I'm glad I stayed with it because after a couple of twists and turns near the end, I'm pleased to say the "trying too hard" bits were actually tied up quite nicely and made much more sense.

At the risk of giving a couple minor spoilers ... there were some things that I didn't like: I got tired of reading the recipes used by the bad guy who leaves a trail of bodies from the Bahamas to New York. I get it. He likes to cook. He likes to carve meat. But I could have done without the blow-by-blow accounts of how he prepared his favorite meals. In the back of the kindle edition there is even a link to the author's website where you can download all the recipes used in the book. That's kind of funny I guess, but whatever.

I guess the rest of this is just being picky but I'll mention it anyway because the author is obviously a great writer and researcher and he gives incredible detail on nearly everything ... but there's a scene in the book where an IED blows up a Manhattan coffee shop to destroy any evidence that might be on the security system's hard drive. The IED renders the hard drive completely useless in terms of evidence - it's in a million melted pieces. And yet ... in less than six hours from the time of the explosion: Lincoln's sidekick, Sachs, recovers trace evidence that yields a SINGLE grain of sand that is analyzed back in their "apartment lab" and identified as having originated in the Bahamas, thus clearly linking two crime scenes to one perp. Well that's impressive ... but I'd have preferred more detail on how they found and isolated and tested one grain of sand in such a short time (on a NY sidewalk no less, after a horrific explosion ... and how did they even know to test this grain of sand, that it was the one grain out of surely millions that was relevant to the case?) rather than the endless paragraphs about carving knifes and mixing ingredients to form the perfect meal.

Another one that was kind of silly is when a UAV pilot launches a Hellfire missile at a bad guy, only to realize a split-second later that there are innocent people at the target as well. What does he do? In less than ten seconds, he does all of the following: disarms the missile, puts the UAV on autopilot, takes over control of the missile so he can fly it off target and crash it away from where it could harm anyone, then because he can't tell what the terrain is like from the camera mounted on the missile (he's worried he might crash the missile into someone's house), he opens his Firefox web browser, goes to Google, pulls up a terrain map for the exact coordinates where the missile he's flying is currently at, and then flies the missile for the next five seconds while looking back and forth from Google to the image being broadcast from the camera ... yeah, seriously. It did make me wonder about his Internet provider. That piece of information I could use, because for sure I'd switch providers to get that kind of browsing speed.

Anyway, there are several of these moments that take away from what is otherwise a great plot, good characters, and terrific writing. That being said, I thought the book had a really good ending and I have to say that overall I really did enjoy reading The Kill Room.

"Kill room" is this years continuation of the Lincoln Rhyme story from Jeffrey Deaver.

The story-line is good even though in the first half of the book it does drag a bit. The twists and turns in the story are there as always. The ending was fantastic and I would recommend that others read this book just to see how it turns out.

There were some things to dislike about the book.

1. Jeffrey Deaver goes on and on about different meals that the guy cooks. I understand that he needs to build character but there is a certain point where the book goes from a crime novel to just making the reader really hungry.
2. There is a lot of swearing in this book. I find this odd since I don't remember this from previous books.

All in all, this is a good Lincoln Rhyme story that should satisfy Lincoln Rhyme story fans.